Computer based systems for generating and printing postage indicia have been available for a number of years, see for example U.S. Pat. No. 5,510,992 entitled “System and Method for Automatically Printing Postage on Mail” and U.S. Pat. No. 5,822,739 entitled “System and Method for Remote Postage Metering,” assigned to Stamps.com, Inc. the assignee of the present application. Such computer based systems have largely replaced more traditional postage meters in many market segments because of the widespread availability of appropriate host systems, ease of use, etc. However, there remains room for advancement with respect to the operation and use of such computer based systems in performing postage transactions.
Client server computer based postage indicia generation and printing systems typically invoke a series of server calls from the client in order to generate and print postage indicia. For example, a postage client may operate to collect data about a postal item and desired postal service from a user and issue a postage server call, transmitting the collected postal item information to the postage server, to obtain a postal rate for the postal item. If the user wishes to change an aspect of the desired postal service (e.g., request first class rather than overnight) or alters an aspect of the postal item (e.g., size or weight), another postage server call, transmitting the revised postal item information to the postage server, is made to obtain a revised postal rate for the postal item. Thereafter, the postage client may issue additional postage server calls for completing postage indicia generation, such as a postage server call to have the addressee information validated, a postage server call to obtain an insurance rate, etc. Upon completing the postage indicia generation processing to the user's satisfaction, a postage server call may be made by the postage client to request generation of the postage indicia and transmission of the postage indicia to the postage client for printing.
Each of the foregoing postage server calls requires appreciable time to complete (e.g., up to seconds or longer). Nevertheless, the client server model typically implements such centralized functionality to facilitate the use of a relatively thin postage client, thereby facilitating its widespread distribution and operation, to avoid issues with maintaining software and database updates throughout the network, etc.